The death of FRII radio sources and their connection with radio relics

Abstract

Radio relic sources in galaxy clusters are often described as the remnants of powerful radio galaxies. Here we develop a model for the evolution of such relics after the jets cease to supply energy to the lobes. This includes the treatment of a relic overpressured with respect to its gaseous surroundings even after the jets switch off. We also determine the radio emission of relics for a large variety of assumptions. We take into account the evolution of the strength of the magnetic field during the phase of relativistic particle injection into the lobes. The resulting spectra show mild steepening at around 1 GHz but avoid any exponential spectral cut-offs. The model calculations are used to fit the observed spectra of six radio relics. The quality of the fits is excellent for {\it all} models discussed. Unfortunately, this implies that it is virtually impossible to determine any of the important source parameters from the observed radio emission alone.